and silver, are largely produced in the United
States. The world's gold production for 1917 was 423.6 million dollars
(_Mineral Resources_, 1917, p. 613). Africa produced half of this amount
(214.6 million dollars). The United States was second with a production
of 83.8 million dollars (20 per cent of the whole). The same publication
(p. 615) gives the world's silver production in 1917 as 164 million
ounces. 77.1 million ounces (43 per cent) were produced in the United
States. The second largest producer was Mexico, 31.2 million ounces; and
the third Canada, with 22.3 million ounces. These three North American
countries produced 76 per cent of the world's output of silver.

Judge Gary, speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Iron and Steel
Institute (1920) put the situation in this summary form:--

As frequently stated, notwithstanding the United States has only 6% of
the world's population and 7% of the world's land, yet we produce:

20% of the world's supply of gold,
25% of the world's supply of wheat,
40% of the world's supply of iron and steel,
40% of the world's supply of lead,
40% of the world's supply of silver,
50% of the world's supply of zinc,
52% of the world's supply of coal,
60% of the world's supply of aluminum,
60% of the world's supply of copper,
60% of the world's supply of cotton,
66% of the world's supply of oil,
75% of the world's supply of corn,
85% of the world's supply of automobiles.

With the exception of rubber, practically all of the essential raw
materials and food products upon which modern industrial society depends
are produced largely in the United States. With less than a sixteenth of
the world's population, the United States produced from a fifth to
two-thirds of most of the world's essential products.

5. _Shipping_

The rapid increase in the foreign trade of the United States created a
demand for American shipping facilities. Before the Civil War the United
States held a place as a maritime nation. Between the Civil War and the
war with Spain the energies of the American people were devoted to
internal improvement. With the advent of expansion that followed the
Spanish-American War, came an insistent demand that the United States
develop a merchant marine adequate to carry its own foreign trade.

The United States Commissioner of Navigation in his report for 1917 (p.
78) gives the net gross tonnage of ste